Field of the Invention
The invention relates to performing high dynamic range optical image detection of a scene.
Description of Related Art
The ability to “see” with application-specific intelligence is critical in today's world of big data that is saturated with diverse image characteristics across fundamental science and industry. Classic state-of-the-art optical imager designs deploy photo-detector arrays such as the Charge Coupled Devices (CCDs) and the Complementary Metal Oxide Semiconductor (C-MOS) devices. These multi-pixel devices are inherently hard-wired to operate within a fixed wavelength band and spatial sampling grid, including in most cases, fixed time integration maps across the device. This highly rigid multi-pixel approach to imager design and operations today not only produces massive amount of read-out data, but also creates severe imaging limitations, such as under extreme contrast lighting conditions. This is because CCD/CMOS sensors are fundamentally limited by saturation, nonlinear response, limited spatial resolution, inter-pixel crosstalk and inter-pixel dead zone light scattering. Furthermore, when one uses custom fluorescence materials, precision lens and coding optics and nano-motion mechanics, as well as advanced computation image processing algorithms with the CCD/CMOS sensors to beat the diffraction limit, the system becomes very expensive and restricted in usage.
As a result of the drawbacks of these prior-art imagers, there is a strong need for imagers operating under extreme lighting contrast (e.g., >104:1) conditions to deliver high resolution (including beating the diffraction limit), wavelength flexibility, high dynamic range, low inter-pixel crosstalk, high Signal-to-Noise Ratio (SNR), and low cost as well as data compressed, compact and mechanically robust imager designs.
One new platform for imager design invented by the inventor of the present application is called Coded Access Optical Sensor (CAOS). This platform greatly alleviates the problems associated with the prior art imagers. This is due to the fact that the CAOS engages an electronically agile pixel platform using hybrid space-time-frequency RF coded multiple-access of a smartly sampled irradiance map that undergoes both optical and electronic domain signal processing.
Imaging of Electromagnetic (EM) radiation is a multidisciplinary challenge of fundamental importance to medical, manufacturing, astronomy, aerospace, arts, entertainment, forensics, security, research, and defense sectors. For effective deployment and impact from optical imagers, it is not only highly desirable to provide an imager which provides the features mentioned earlier, but it is also important to provide an imager which can realize portability, low energy consumption, and security of operations.
It is an object of the present invention to provide an imager which overcomes at least some of the above mentioned problems with prior art imagers.